


Bonds

by artikgato



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23527711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: Yu Narukami would never meet his Shadow, but the mere fact that he had become someone that could have a Shadow at all meant that he had changed in the year he’d spent in Inaba. He’d grown. He’d forged unbreakable bonds, and the responsibility that came from those was something he would never take lightly. It was for that reason that his Shadow was so confident they would never meet.But even Shadows could be wrong.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 112





	Bonds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skilde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skilde/gifts).



> For skilde. The prompt was: "Shadow Yu/Souji alone and musing on how he loves the power he's gained from social links and basking in the control he has over the people around him. I'm not looking for him to be malicious, just in awe of how it feels."

It started with a spark, he remembered. A tiny little burst of energy, a modest little thing. His other self’s hand clasped in solidarity with Hanamura’s hand. A friend. A bond. Back then, he was nothing. Formless, just a collection of feelings and thoughts drifting through the sea of the unconscious. His other self didn’t have much to hide from, after all. Nothing so dark or serious that he would ever truly manifest as a Shadow, he’d thought. 

There were more sparks every day. More bonds. Friendships formed, alliances made. The more time his other self spent with his friends, his cousin, his uncle, his classmates, the more sparks there were, the stronger he became. He began to take form, not just a collection of ideas but an actual shape. Limbs and lungs and a face, and eyes. 

His other self could feel it too. He understood that he was being granted power by strengthening his bonds. He didn’t come to Inaba in search of bonds, but with every Persona he forged he found himself seeking out more bonds. Stronger bonds. ‘For the good of the investigation’, he justified. In his heart of hearts, he knew better. The bonds made him feel powerful. It was addictive. 

Yu Narukami came to Inaba as something of a blank slate, with nothing more than his parents’ wishes for him. He’d planned on spending the year getting ahead on his studies. He hadn’t wanted to or planned on making any friends, knowing he’d be torn away from them in the coming spring. He’d learned that lesson over and over and over again, and was determined not to go through that heartbreak this time. 

Then there had been that little spark from Hanamura. 

He knew that his other self would never have to face him. The bonds he formed were powerful and heady and addictive, but he had no intention of ever exploiting them. His friends all trusted him, and he would never,  _ could _ never betray that trust. But he could ask them to do anything, and they would do it for him, and that was a powerful feeling.

Yu Narukami would never meet his Shadow, but the mere fact that he had become someone that could  _ have _ a Shadow at all meant that he had changed in the year he’d spent in Inaba. He’d grown. He’d forged unbreakable bonds, and the responsibility that came from those was something he would never take lightly. It was for that reason that his Shadow was so confident they would never meet. 

But even Shadows could be wrong. 

He should have been able to see it coming, to be honest. He’d felt the pull to his other self when they had fought Kubo’s Shadow, after all. The lonely nightmare he’d been trapped in, the despair he’d felt, had called out to his Shadow. Yosuke had rescued him before his Shadow could go to him, but he’d felt the pull nonetheless. Now he felt the pull so strongly that he couldn’t resist, being drawn out of the sea of the unconscious like being poured down a drain. 

His friends were dead, dying; the rotting goddess loomed over him, and Yu Narukami was so desperate to cling to their memory, to his days spent in Inaba, that he was rejecting the truth. If he lost to the goddess, he would be all alone. If he won against the goddess, he would be all alone. The loneliness was raw and ugly and drew him to his other self like a moth to a flame. The Shadow stepped into a fabricated reality: a sunny afternoon in the living room of the Dojima house. His other self was there, a fake smile twisting up his features, a tiredness around his eyes as he sat on the couch surrounded by fake versions of his friends and family. None of them seemed to notice him, but Yu did. Gray eyes widened in shock as they were met with golden ones, and around them the world froze. 

“Why are you here?” his other self asked, fear making the dark circles below his eyes more pronounced. 

“You know why,” the Shadow answered, simply.

“I don’t want to go back,” his other self said, shaking his head violently. He bolted to his feet, and the fabrication of Rise on the couch next to him didn’t move at all as he stood. “You hear me?! I don’t want to go back! Leave me alone!”

“I can’t,” the Shadow said. “And you know that.”

“No,” his other half said. He grabbed the sides of his face, eyes squeezing shut. “Please. Just let me stay here with them. Please!”

“They aren’t real,” the Shadow pointed out.

“I know that,” Yu said. “I know! But I don’t want to live in a world where they’re all dead!” The Shadow said nothing, staring him down impassively. “Please...please just go away.”

“What you really mean,” the Shadow started, stepping closer and closer until he was crowding into his other self’s personal space, forcing him to look at him, to acknowledge him. “Is that you don’t want to give up the power you had over them.”

“What?” Yu asked, jaw going slack and hands falling to his sides in his shock. “N-no!”

“They all loved you so much that they’d do anything for you,” the Shadow continued. “And you loved that. You’d never do anything to abuse that power, but you  _ loved _ that you had that amount of control over other people. You don’t want to give that up.”

“No!” Yu protested. He tried to shove the Shadow away, but the Shadow didn’t budge. “No, that’s not what I think at all!”

“It is,” the Shadow continued. “And I know, because I am you.”

“No!” Yu protested. He looked around wildly for an escape route, but the Shadow had him cornered against the couch, the frozen fabrication of Rise on one side and the fabrications of Chie and Yukiko on the other, holding a pot with some foul concoction in it. 

“Say it,” the Shadow goaded, leaning even more into Yu’s space, golden eyes flashing. “Say it!”

“I—” Yu whimpered, closing his eyes. “P-please, please just go away…”

“You must face the truth,” the Shadow said, raising a hand and gently putting it on his other self’s cheek. Yu flinched away from him with a gasp. “You must.”

“Even if I defeat Izanami, they’ll still be dead! I don’t want to live in a world where they’re all dead!” Yu protested.

“If you remain here, you’ll die yourself,” the Shadow pointed out. 

“I’ve been alone,” Yu said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t ever want to go back to that!”

“I know,” the Shadow agreed. He stepped back. “Because I am you.”

“I…” Yu started, swallowing. He took a deep breath and righted his posture, raising his head to look into the Shadow’s eyes. He was trembling, on the verge of tears, but he looked resolute. “You’re right. I… I love all of my friends. I love the bonds we’ve created. I love how much they trust me. I love how powerful it makes me feel.” 

The Shadow nodded, smiling.

“You are me, and I am you,” Yu said, and the Shadow closed his eyes, feeling immense power welling up inside him. Ah, so that was his true form after all. The ultimate form of the Judgement arcana flowed through him as he shifted from the form of a Shadow to the form of a Persona.

Izanagi no Okami.


End file.
